Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act

Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act

Section-by-Section Analysis

Major Supporting Organizations
More than 200 victims’ rights and law enforcement organizations, including: Shared
Hope International, Rights 4 Girls, Fraternal Order of Police, National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children, National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP), National Children’s Alliance, National Criminal Justice Association,
End Child Prostitution and Trafficking, PROTECT, Alliance to End Slavery and
Trafficking, National Association of Police Organizations, National Conference of State
Legislatures, National District Attorneys Association.
Section1. Short Title; Table of Contents.
“The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015.”

TITLE I—JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING

Section 101. Domestic Trafficking Victims’ Fund.
 Under current federal law (18 U.S. 3013), all persons convicted of a felony in
federal court are required to pay a special assessment of $100 in addition to
any additional fines ordered by the judge. Funds collected as a result of this
special assessment are used to provide services to victims and to ensure that
criminals are helping to offset the costs of their offenses.
 Unfortunately, this $100 special assessment is the only monetary penalty that
many human traffickers and predators will pay to help offset the costs and
harms they have caused. For instance, according to the latest available data
from the United States Sentencing Commission (FY 2012), only 12% of federal
child pornography/prostitution offenders and 6% of sexual abuse offenders are
ordered to pay any criminal fines at all in federal court.
 To hold predators accountable, the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act would
require certain federal offenders to pay an additional special assessment of
$5,000 upon conviction for one of the following classes of crimes:
o Human trafficking;
o Sexual abuse;
o Child pornography ;
o Child sexual exploitation;
o Interstate transportation for illegal sexual activity; and
o Commercial human smuggling.
 Based upon FY 2012 data from the United States Sentencing Commission (the
latest available), this additional special assessment would apply to more than

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6,200 offenders per year—accounting for at least $31 million in obligated
assessments, which would not be payable until all outstanding orders of
restitution and other criminal fines are paid in full by the offender.
 All penalties collected under the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act would be
collected in the same manner that criminal fines are collected under current
law, and would be deposited into a deficit-neutral “Domestic Trafficking Victims’
Fund.” The Attorney General would be authorized to use the balances of this
fund to supplement programs that provide victims’ services to domestic human
trafficking victims, and provide law enforcement with resources to investigate
and combat modern-day slavery.
 At the end of each fiscal year, all unobligated balances contained in the
Domestic Trafficking Victims’ Fund would be automatically transferred to the
Crime Victims’ Fund.
Section 102. Clarifying the Benefits and Protections Offered to Domestic Victims
of Human Trafficking.

 Under current law, U.S. citizen human trafficking victims are placed at a
disadvantage when seeking restorative services and protection. Under the
Trafficking Victims Protection Act, non-citizen trafficking victims may become
eligible for federally funded services and benefits after HHS or the Secretary of
Homeland Security issues an official certification to them—but U.S. citizens and
Lawful Permanent Residents are not eligible for this certification. This disparity
in certification has led to confusion, and often has the effect of categorically
excluding domestic human trafficking victim from receiving protective and
restorative services.

 This section clarifies that U.S. citizen and Lawful Permanent Resident human
trafficking victims should never be denied services due to the fact they have not
received a victim certification.

Section 103. Victim-centered Child Human Trafficking Deterrence Block Grant
Program.

 This section reauthorizes and reformulates an expired section of the Trafficking
Victims Protection Act (42 U.S. 14044b) which relates to services for domestic
child trafficking victims.

 More specifically, this section would create a victim-centered model block grant
program to help States and local governments develop and implement
comprehensive victim-centered programs to train law enforcement, rescue
exploited children, prosecute human traffickers, and restore the lives of victims.
This program will be paid for entirely through the “Domestic Trafficking Victims’
Fund” created by the bill.

 These block grant funds could be used for specialized training programs, the
establishment of anti-trafficking task forces, victims’ services and the
establishment or enhancement of problem solving court programs for trafficking

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victims all focused on victim rescue and restoration. Collaboration between law
enforcement, social services, emergency responders, Children’s Advocacy
Centers, victim service providers, and non-profits is encouraged in order to help
communities and governments work together to develop a holistic approach to
fighting trafficking and serving victims.
 Many of the purpose areas in this block grant program (regarding law
enforcement and prosecution assistance) passed the Senate by unanimous
consent in 2010, and achieved broad bipartisan support in the House, as part
of the “Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act.”

Section 104. Direct Services for Victims of Child Pornography.
 Creates a new purpose area under the Victims of Child Abuse Act to allow the
more than 900 Children’s Advocacy Centers across the nation to provide
restorative services for victims of child pornography. Requires that not less than
$2 million per year from the Domestic Trafficking Victims Fund to be dedicated
to this purpose.
 This section also clarifies that Children’s Advocacy Centers may use existing
resources to work with child victims of human trafficking.

Section 105. Increasing Compensation and Restitution for Trafficking Victims.

 Requires law enforcement officials to prioritize the use of proceeds from
forfeited assets to satisfy restitution orders in human trafficking cases.

 Current federal law requires convicted human traffickers to forfeit all property
“used or intended to be used to commit or facilitate the commission of such
violation.” This standard can sometimes be used to shield human traffickers
from broad asset forfeiture by requiring prosecutors to make a difficult
distinction between the portion of criminal assets traceable to the underlying
offense and the portion of the assets that are involved in the offense, but were
not used for the actual facilitation of the offense itself.

 The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act would amend the human trafficking
asset forfeiture statute (18 U.S. 1594) to track the asset forfeiture statute for
money laundering (18 U.S. 982(a)(1)—eliminating the need for prosecutors to
show direct traceability between the underlying crime and the targeted proceeds
when they can show that the assets were involved in the crime or used to
conceal the source of criminal assets. This provision will make more forfeited
criminal assets available for victim restitution and would also incentivize the
charging of human trafficking as the principal offense in federal cases.

 This section would also allow the Department of Justice and Department of
Homeland Security to use money available in federal asset forfeiture funds to
make award payments to victim-witnesses who come forward and provide
information or assistance related to a human trafficking case.
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Section 106. Streamlining Human Trafficking Investigations.
 Under current law (18 U.S. 2516), state and local law enforcement may obtain a
wiretap warrant in their state courts upon a showing that the investigation may
provide evidence of “murder, kidnapping, gambling, robbery, bribery, extortion,
or dealing in narcotic drugs, marihuana or other dangerous drugs, or other
crime dangerous to life, limb, or property, and punishable by imprisonment for
more than one year. . .”
 Unfortunately, many state courts have ruled that human trafficking/
prostitution investigations do not provide evidence of one of the listed classes of
offenses—essentially precluding state human trafficking task forces from
obtaining wiretaps in these critical cases. For an example of a State Supreme
Court interpreting federal law and holding that the investigation of a
prostitution ring did not meet this criteria, see: State v. Rivers, 660 So.2d 1360
(Fla. 1995). See also: People v. Shapiro, 50 N.Y.2d 747 (N.Y. 1980); and United
States v. Millstone Enterprises, Inc., 684 F. Supp. 867 (W.D. Pa. 1988).
 Given the recent growth of state and local human trafficking task forces, and
the ability of wiretap evidence to spare victim-witnesses the burden of
confronting their exploiters, we must ensure that this powerful investigative tool
remains at the disposal of law enforcement officials.
 The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act would clarify that the principle
prosecuting attorney of a State or its political subdivision may obtain a wiretap
warrant in a state court pursuant to a showing of probable cause that the
wiretap will provide evidence of a crime of human trafficking, child sexual
exploitation, or child pornography production.
 The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act also extends federal wiretap authority
to cover all human trafficking offenses, specifically peonage, involuntary
servitude, forced labor, child sexual exploitation, child pornography production,
slavery and involuntary servitude.

Section 107. Enhancing Human Trafficking Reporting.
 The first point of contact for many human trafficking victims is a Federal, State,
or local law enforcement official. However, despite the violent and degrading
nature of human trafficking, it is not currently required to be classified as a
Part I Violent Crime (the most serious classification) for purposes of the FBI’s
Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program.
 This section will encourage law enforcement agencies to investigate and report
human trafficking activity by classifying this crime as a Part I Violent Crime
and requiring it to be included in the calculation of index crime rates.

Section 108. Reducing Demand for Sex Trafficking.

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 The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) defines a sex trafficker as a
person who “knowingly—recruits, entices, harbors, transports, provides,
obtains, or maintains by any means a person…knowing, or in reckless
disregard of the fact, that means of force, threats of force, fraud, coercion. . . or
any combination of such means will be used to cause the person to engage in a
commercial sex act, or that the person has not attained the age of 18 years and
will be caused to engage in a commercial sex act.”

 While use of the word “obtains” in the current statute has been correctly
interpreted to encompass those who purchase illicit sexual acts from trafficking
victims, some confusion persists.

 In United States vs. Jungers, the Eighth Circuit ruled that 18 U.S. 1591 applied
to persons who purchase illicit sexual acts with trafficking victims after the
United States District Court for the District of South Dakota erroneously
granted motions to acquit these buyers in two separate cases.

 The section strengthens the Trafficking Victims Protection Act by adding the
words “solicits or patronizes” to the sex trafficking statute— making absolutely
clear for judges, juries, prosecutors, and law enforcement officials that
criminals who purchase sexual acts from human trafficking victims can and
should be arrested, prosecuted, and convicted as sex trafficking offenders.

Section 109. Sense of Congress.
 Expresses the Sense of Congress that criminals who purchase sexual acts from
human trafficking victims should be arrested, prosecuted, and convicted as sex
trafficking offenders when this is merited by the facts of a particular case.

Section 110. Using Existing task Forces to Target Offenders Who Exploit
Children.

 Leverages existing resources by directing federally funded law enforcement task
forces that are part of the Innocence Lost National Initiative to focus on fighting
demand for human trafficking through the investigation, arrest, and
prosecution of persons who purchase sexual acts with human trafficking
victims.

 Requires the Attorney General to direct all components and task forces with
jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute child labor trafficking to engage in
activities, programs, and operations to increase the capacity of these
components to deter and punish child labor trafficking.

Section 111. Targeting Child Predators.
 Clarifies that those who knowingly transport a child in interstate or foreign
commerce for the purpose of child pornography production have engaged in
illicit sexual activity for purposes of 18 U.S. §2423, whether or not the person
transporting the child actually had sexual contact with the child. Predators who
transport children to produce child pornography are no less culpable than other
human traffickers, and should be treated as such.

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 Current federal law allows interstate child predators to claim an affirmative
defense under the Mann Act (18 U.S. 2423) where they can show, by a
preponderance of the evidence (more likely than not), that they believed the
person with whom they engaged in a commercial sex act was 18 years of age or
older.

 This section would increase the standard for claiming this affirmative defense—
requiring these predators to show, by clear and convincing evidence (highly and
substantially more probable than not), that they believed the victim to be 18
years of age or older.

 This provision will ensure that child predators responding to prostitution
advertisements or internet message boards cannot disclaim knowledge of a
child’s age merely because the child is falsely listed as 18 or older.

Section 112. Monitoring All Human Traffickers as Violent Criminals.
 Clarifies that all federal crimes of human trafficking should be treated as crimes
of violence for purposes of federal pre-trial release and detention. This will
ensure that prosecutors, law enforcement, and judges have the tools they need
to prevent dangerous human traffickers from targeting victim-witnesses for
intimidation and reprisal.

Section 113. Crime Victims’ Rights.
 Amends the Crime Victims' Rights Act to provide victims with the right to be
informed in a timely manner of any plea agreement or deferred prosecution
agreement.
 Clarifies that a victim whose rights under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act have
been denied by the district court (e.g., a victim who was not allowed to speak at
the defendant’s sentencing) and who seeks relief in the appellate court will have
his or her appeal subject to the ordinary appellate standard of review (legal
error or abuse of discretion), rather than the higher standard traditionally used
to review petitions for writs of mandamus (“clear and indisputable error”). In its
four-year review of the effectiveness of the Crime Victim’s Rights Act (CVRA), the
Government Accountability Office (GAO) noted that the Courts of Appeals have
applied differing standards of review to crime victims’ petitions. Some Courts of
Appeals have restricted to review to only “clear and indisputable error.” But a
number of Courts of Appeals have given crime victims ordinary appellate
review. Ordinary appellate review is what Congress intended, as the legislative
history to the CVRA makes clear.
 Clarifies that crime victims should be informed of their rights under the CVRA,
notified of the services available to them, and provided with the contact
information of the DOJ Office of the Victims’ Rights Ombudsman.

Section 114. Combat Human Trafficking Act.

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 Encourages the prosecution of buyers of sex acts involving trafficking victims
and the seeking and ordering of restitution for trafficking victims by: directing
the Department of Justice to ensure that each anti-human trafficking training
program it offers includes training on effective methods for investigating and
prosecuting the buyers of sex acts involving trafficking victims; and seeking
restitution for victims of sex trafficking. This provision responds to an October
2014 study by The Human Trafficking Pro Bono Legal Center that found that
federal prosecutors did not seek restitution in 37% of qualifying cases brought
between 2009 and 2012. When the prosecutor did not seek restitution, it was
granted in only 10% of cases.

 Directs the federal Judiciary to provide training to judges on ordering
restitution for the victims of sex trafficking.

 Requires the Bureau of Justice Statistics to prepare an annual report on the
number of arrests, prosecutions, convictions and lengths of sentences regarding
sex trafficking offenses prosecuted in state courts.

 Establishes a minimum period of five years of supervised release for a person
who conspires to violate the commercial sex trafficking statute (§ 1591), thereby
making conspirators subject to the same term of supervised release as those
convicted of attempting to violate the statute or of violating the statute.

Section 115. Survivors of Human Trafficking Empowerment Act.
 Establishes a United States Advisory Council on Human Trafficking, comprised
of not less than eight survivors of human trafficking. This council will make
recommendations to the United States Government regarding anti-trafficking
strategies, and will serve as a non-governmental advisory body to the Senior
Policy Operating Group (SPOG) in the Department of State’s Trafficking in
Persons Office (TIP).

Section 116. Brining Missing Children Home Act.
 Requires law enforcement organizations who file missing children reports with
the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) to include a recent photograph of
the missing child in their report, where available, and would require the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to be notified of
each report received relating to a child reported missing from a foster care
family home or childcare institution.

Section 117. Grant Accountability.
 Allows the DOJ Inspector General to conduct audits of grant recipients under
the bill in order to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse of funds by grantees.
 Prohibits grantees under the bill with unresolved audit findings from receiving
grant funds for a 2-year period.
 Gives grantee priority to eligible entities that have not had an unresolved audit
finding for the previous 3-years.

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 Ensures that grantees under the bill who have improperly received funds are
required to reimburse the Federal Government in an amount equal to the
improper award.

 Prohibits non-profit organizations that hold money in offshore accounts from
receiving Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act funds.

 Prohibits the use of Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act funds for conference
expenditures of more than $20,000, unless the Deputy Attorney General or
appropriate Assistant Attorney General provides written authorization of the
expenditure.

 Requires annual reports to the House and Senate Judiciary and Appropriations
Committees detailing the use of Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act grant
funds, and the results of any relevant audits.

TITLE II—COMBATTING HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Section 201. Amendments to the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act
 Enables the Secretary of Health and Human Services to apply existing grant
resources to train relevant staff on the effects of human trafficking in runaway
and homeless youth victims, and for developing state-wide strategies to serve
such youth.
 Allows the secretary to utilize the Street Outreach Program to provide street-
based services for runaway and homeless youth who are victims of trafficking.

Section 211. Response to Victims of Child Sex Trafficking
 Current law does not specifically mention “child sex trafficking” as one of the
categories of crimes covered by the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children’s (NCMEC) tipline– even though NCMEC encounters child victims of
sex trafficking and currently uses this term on its website in order to encourage
the public’s reporting of these types of crimes. Instead, the statute uses the
term “child prostitution”, which we know does not fully and accurately capture
these types of crimes against children,
 This section would correct this problem by adding the phrase “child sex
trafficking, including child prostitution” to the Section b(1)(p) of the Missing
Children’s Assistance Act.

Section 221. Victim of Trafficking Defined.
 Incorporates the definition of “victim of trafficking” in Section 103 of the
Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 as the definition for that phrase in
sections 222-224 of this legislation.

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Section 222. Interagency Task Force Report on Child Trafficking Primary
Prevention.

 Directs the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking,
established under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), to
survey Federal and state activities to prevent children from becoming trafficking
victims; review academic literature on deterring individuals from committing
trafficking offenses and preventing children from becoming victims; and identify
best practices and strategies for prevention, as well as identify any current gaps
in research and data that would be helpful to develop effective prevention
strategies.

Section 223. GAO Report on Intervention.
 Requires the Government Accountability Office to submit a report to Congress
that includes information on Federal and state law enforcement agencies to
combat trafficking in the U.S., including information on each available Federal
grant program intended to combat human trafficking or assist victims of
trafficking.

Section 224. Provision of Housing Permitted to Protect and Assist in the
Recovery of Victims of Trafficking.

 Clarifies that an existing Justice Department TVPA grant program may be used
to provide housing services to trafficking victims.

TITLE III—HERO ACT

Section 301. Short Title.
 This title may be cited as the “Human Exploitation Rescue Operations Act of
2015” or the “HERO Act of 2015.”

Section 302. HERO Act.
 Provides express statutory authorization for the existing ICE Cyber Crimes
Center (“C3”).
 C3 is a powerful tool in the fight against the sexual exploitation of children; the
production, advertisement and distribution of child pornography; and child sex
tourism.
 This section would authorize C3 to collaborate with the Department of Defense
and the National Association to Protect Children for the purpose of recruiting,
training, and hiring wounded and transitioning military veterans to serve as law
enforcement officials engaged in the investigation of child exploitation cases.

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 C3’s Child Exploitation Section uses sophisticated investigative techniques to
target violators who operate on the Internet, including the use of Web sites, e-
mail, chat rooms and file-sharing applications.

 Major initiatives include the following:
1. Operation Predator, ICE’s flagship investigative initiative for targeting
sexual predators, child pornographers and child sex;
2. The National Child Victim Identification System, which was developed to
assist law enforcement agencies in identifying victims of child sexual
exploitation; and
3. The Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law
enforcement agencies working together to fight online child exploitation
and abuse.

 In addition, ICE has joined in partnership with other agencies (including the
Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces), foreign law enforcement
agencies and non-governmental organizations (such as the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children). These partnerships have enabled C3 to
successfully investigate leads and assist in identifying violators and associates
all over the world.

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